Now, it’s time to revisit Seasons 3 and 4, kicking off with an Original surprise and concluding with a cliffhanger that had us seeing double. To cover it all, TVLine invited not one, but two Vampire Diaries EPs to guide us through all the drama — with a few hints about Season 5, to boot!

Great gallery of twists. I, for one, was thrilled that Jeremy was brought back to the show. He is one of my favourite characters, and I’m really looking forward to his interactions with ghost Bonnie, and of course, his reunion with Elena. I am also so keen for human Katherine – it sounds like there are some really funny storylines to be had there. I’m still a bit iffy on the whole doppelganger twist, but I’m interested to see where the writers take it.

Kevin and Julie were co-creators of the show. As in the credits, since this is based on a book, they can not say it Created by, but Developed By, and that’s why both there names are listed. Kevin is taking more of a back seat, and lends his comments here and there, like he reads the scripts, but doesn’t usually write them. As, if you follow his twitter, he comments on them from time to time. Likee it or not, the best two episodes of Season 4 and some of the best of the series were The Walking Dead and Graduation, which was written by Julie and Caroline Dries.

Season 1 wasn’t all that. I agree with you about Season 2, as that was adrenaline pumping and every act there was a moment to just gasp on. That’s the same feeling I got while watching Graduation and The Walking Dead was a nice look back on how the characters grew

I hated the Damon met Elena first thing. It made no sense and just seemed like a way to keep fans happy. Are u telling me that Damon meets someone who looks exactly like Katherine (who he was in love with at the time) and acts like it was no big deal? I just didn’t buy it. It was just thrown in to keep delena fans happy when Elena chose Stefan. I can’t help it, I just really miss season 1 and 2.

You don’t know if it was no big deal as after he meets her there’s been months that gone by between that moment and the pilot. Who knows they might explore that later.

I don’t think it was to make Delena fans happy that they showed that moment, I think it was to set up what was to happen in the season, as she remembered meeting him first, and thus started Delena S4 and made it stronger for S5.

Before all you stelena fans start to hate on Delena, I think it’s right for them at this point to pair up and let Stefan have his own little journey, as being the doppelganger of Silas, and I personally think they need to explore the relationship of Stefan and Caroline. There’s so much potential there.

Hey don’t assume things. Personally I think both Stefan and Damon deserve better than Elena. Not everyone that says anything bad about Damon is automatically a Stelena fan. I gave an opinion on that scene and I stand by it.

I agree. From a logical standpoint, it made no sense and felt very much like catering to a certain fan base. Even her explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense. This is not a Delena vs Stelena issue for me although I do believe that this scene undermines the Stelena relationship. The issue is really that the Damon we met in season one would never have behaved the way that the flashback portrayed him as acting. He was still very in love with Katherine. He was still being a bad boy (miss those days). His attitude was nothing like it is now. Yet, the flashback portrays him as more like the later seasons of his character. Not at all believable to anyone who has actually watched the show.

Yeah but I think Damon was caught off guard in the flashback. He expected Katherine and she said no, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Yes he was different in the first couple seasons, but he still knew how to interact with people/humans without killing them or being obnoxious. Maybe that meeting is what set him off? Maybe seeing Elena and realizing that she is not Katherine and realizing Katherine is not around really pissed him off and that is why when he did tell everyone he was in town he was being such a dick. He was pissed off that he found someone that looked like Katherine but wasn’t. Then mind you, his brother goes and finds the same girl. So he was probably thinking, typical Salvatore bond, always finding the same girl then falling for her. Damon survived for many years without drawing attention to himself, killing or hurting Elena with tons of people a few feet away wasn’t going to help. Plus, he was in love with Katherine or thought he was, so since he had no idea what or who Elena was to her he wouldn’t hurt her.

I agree. A much better way of saying what I wanted to say. Plus I just rewatched it, and it looks like hes just stunned to see Katherine, and then they have this regular conversation, and because maybe she looks like Katherine, he doesn’t want to hurt her just yet. You can tell through the whole scene, he was like infatuated by the fact that she resembled Katherine.

Sorry, needed to check something. Anyways, I’ve been rewatching the whole series from start to finish, and am currently on 3.19 aka Heart of Darkness, and already this season is starting to go downhill.

Most shows start of strong and then start to drift downwards, the opposite happens to Vampire Diaries. The first season was good, until Blood Brothers, that’s when it started getting amazing, with the momentum going even higher in Isobel and finally Founder’s Day. “The Return” saw the show go even better, and all of season 2 was amazing, Season 3 didn’t really have the same adrenaline rush as Season 2 but it was better than season 1. From what I can remember of Season 4, only The Originals, The Walking Dead and Graduation really come to my mind as standout episodes.

While you are rewatching Heart of Darkness make sure you really listen to what Rose says about Damon being the best or worst thing for Elena and how she is certain Stefan will always be good for her! Lol!

If you actually watch the full episode, she clearly states that she is clearly for Damon and Elena to be together. If you also notice, she starts off by saying how Jeremy is against it, maybe that is why she said it could be the worst for her. But all those things clearly state that she wants Damon to be with Elena and that it is a good thing

Also not once have I stated that I’m a Stelena or Delena, so there’s no need to get all attack mode on me. No one is right or wrong. I think one thing that both fan bases are missing out on is that as a HUMAN she chose Stefan, because she knew Stefan would always be good for her, and in my opinion I think she saw a more traditional future with Stefan and not Damon. When she is a vampire she knows that she is no longer that same girl, that Stefan fell in love with and visa versa.

Plus I don`t understand why people are against her exploring her feelings for Damon. Wouldn`t you all want her to be with Stefan knowing in her heart he is the one for her and has no feelings for anyone else?

I completely agree! This season wasted a lot of time with sire bond, and shane talk, the main character Elena lost all interest to me, which really disapointed me, because I thought that as a vampire she would be a more interesting character…
But I think the first episodes of the season were good and so were the last ones you mentioned. Season 2 was just so well written and planned, every episode would leave me breathless, it was truly amazing!

I’ve eyerolled to JP’s logic so much through this article, my orbits are starting to hurt! The sire bond explanation, combined with the cure for vampirism are my favorite by far. Oh, and “who would have thought that Klaus and Caroline would be magic” – only everyone who’s ever heard of Beauty and the beast or Veronica Mars. Please! Not that they didn’t screw with that too.

Woah..don’t compare LoVE to Klaus and Caroline. I’m not even a big LoVe fan but Logan is not a murderer or a sociopath or in any way abusive. Caroline from season 2 would not have dealt with Klaus at all. But in Julie’s world of TVD all the women seem to forgo their personalities and better judgment to be with monsters who kill their boyfriend’s mom. Veronica would never do such a thing.

Oh, I wasn’t comparing the LoVe awesomeness to Klaroline, I wanted to say that the story of being intrigued by a bad guy has been explored with great success many times in the past (and on the same network), so I don’t see why anyone would be surprised that pairing worked so well. I don’t know of a girl/ woman that didn’t fall for/or just wished she could change a bad boy (or three) in her time – this is why Klaroline is so relatable and full of possibilities (to me at least).

The makers hardly appreciate Ian..Ian is actually a crowd puller&his performances were amazing during S4 of TVD..but you’d never seen anyone appreciating that,granted Ian gets too much attention,but it is sad to see that he doesn’t get credit where it’s due in his acting,looks aside you cannot forget the fact that he has amazing screen presence and that it is him who made it so popular..Poor Ian,so many of the other actor’s fans hating him&grudging him..creators treating him like that,it must suck…

Are you serious? I think Ian gets the most attention out of anyone. First off- hes the highest paid actor on the show- majority of the episodes he always gets the best scenes, and if you ask Paul or Nina, they would love to play Damon over there characters, Nina even said she models Katherine after the way Ian played Damon because he does such a good job of it. Even Paul wanted to play the bad guy after seeing Ian have so much fun doing it.

Joseph loves does scenes with Ian and visa-versa, I remember him tweeting about it too. So I don’t think it’s that no one appreciate him. Julie even decided against turning Damon human, because she knew Ian wouldn’t have that much scope to play with

@Life I think you meant to say Paul Wesley. Everyone loves Ian. He always wins all the awards and gets all the attention. Paul doesn’t get any attention. Not that I think he wants it. But he’s the under-appreciated one and probably one of the best actors on the show. In my opinion he’s much better than Ian.

IDK. I feel in the last part of the season they have really started focusing on Paul. And I think in S5 they will be shifting focus to Paul over Ian. Personally I have always love Ian, since Lost. When I heard he was going to be in this show, I tuned in just for him, as I had no idea who anyone else was except I had seen Paul in something but didn’t really care for him one way or another. Either way I think both guys are great.

So the magic baby is for real? I though the witches were just kidding. That’s shocking. (wait, is shocking the right word, I’m looking for? well, since I’m not supposed to curse here, I’ll leave it at shockingly sucky)

I think the bright side of this is, Klaus’ storyline was really around family and the mistakes and bad things he did to his own family, so he now has the chance to create a family and we’ll see the Original family together because of the baby, they now have a chance to start over.

am i d only one who thinks elena doesnt deserve stefan i wish they get a new love interest for him and not make it like all the other love scence where he will eventually realize she is his one true love and vice versa and they get back together cause i will stop watching

Alaric coming back instead of Jeremy would’ve made me happier. I really liked season 4’s finale, but the rest of the season was slow and kind of boring. Season 2 will always be my favorite season. The last few episodes pulled off some great twists and shocking deaths. Although I don’t like how there’s always this option to bring some loved character back to life. The only time I felt scared, or should I say “worried”, about a character was when Elena died. It was so out of left field for me, because I knew nothing about what went on in the books, so her turning into a vampire was the ultimate TVD twist for me.

I do think that Delena happened to please certain fans. It couldn’t be Stelena again at end of S4, certain viewers will stop watching… But Elena having stronger feelings for Damon was totally out of character. From S1 to S3, it’s always Stefan, but then she turned to vampire, her love for Damon was supposed to be heightened but not her love for Stefan? Stefan got the raw deal of the bargain. He’s the true hero, sacrificed more for both Elena and Damon… So whatever storyline they’re making for him in S5, I truly hope they’ll give him a happy ending even if it’s not with Elena. Actually, I want him to be happy with someone else and make Elena green with envy and jealousy, just like what she did to him!

Her love for Damon was heightened because she was sired to him. Basically, the sire bond allowed her to no longer be able to deny it. I am not sure if Stefan fans were watching the same show I was because I can clearly see over the seasons where Elena has feelings for Damon. Even when she choose Stefan at the end of Season 3 I didn’t believe her, she just choose the safe choice because she was afraid of making any other choices. Most people always choose what they know over the uncertain.

That still doesn’t explain why her feelings for Stefan weren’t heightened, they have shoved the fact that becoming a vampire heightens everything you were and felt as a human and she was in love with Stefan so she should have been just as if not more in love with Stefan

If you watch “Heart of Darkness” Rose says it perfectly. Stefan is good for Elena, but Damon is the best thing for her. He constantly gets her to question who she is, and what she wants out of life. In my opinion, they chose her to be with Damon, as her love for him was heightened and not Stefan. Which means that she loved Damon more.

I have watched that episode and she says Damon is either the best thing for her OR the worst, and Elena even said that it’s the worst decision she will ever make…get the recurring theme going on? They are the worst thing for each other, she will constantly try to make him into someone he simply isn’t and he will always act out in destructive ways when he doeant get what he wants from her or anyone else.

Uhm no that is only half of what Rose said, she also believes he may be the worst thing for her…your point is moot when you leave out a significant part of what she said! Whereas with Stefan she is absolutely sure he is good for her, no ifs, ands, or buts about it!

I cannot wait to see how Katherine handles being human, I loved it that she was the one to get the cure because I didn’t see that coming. I honestly thought it would be one of the trio. I’m rather conflicted regarding the doppelganger plot as I consider it rather redundant, but hopefully my mind will change as the plot is explored in Season 5. I enjoyed Season 4, and my favourite episode in the entire series is from it i.e. Graduation (it was amazzzzzing!!!). I’m so excited for Season 5 as there are so many new plots to explore and I think it is going to be epic! My patience is totally running out!

Personally, I don’t think Julie’s opinions make a lot of sense. I mean, if she wants to make Damon and Elena happen, that’s okay, but the way she did it? Oh no. She stripped both Elena and Damon of their original personalities. The sire-bond? Oh yeah, like that woud be everyone’s reaction to it ~ fall in love with the person who purposefully hurt his brother and her former lover? This guy is bad, and she knows it – she said so in the season finale. But that’s the thing.. I like bad Damon, but that doesn’t mean I will ever trust him. Like, the flashback to Damon & Stefan when Damon ‘forgave’ his brother? Ridiculous. She’s painting Damon to be this deep down nice guy, which he isn’t. I don’t like Damon and Elena together, but I used to love both separately.. and now, I don’t. And from what I see, I’m not going to watch season 5. She ruined all of the fan favorite things – Klaroline, Stefan, Bonnie and also the bad-ass, mysterious Klaus. Not to mention she’s taking the Originals somewhere else and taken the bad-assery out of Katherine, too. I mean, what else is there but DE, something that at least half of the fandom doesn’t really care for? I am really disappointed in the show. Honestly. It sucks because I love it, but.. I just don’t understand it anymore. I miss the good old days where Damon was bad, but loved his brother. I miss the days where Elena had a consciousness and felt alive. I miss Katherine. And I miss Stefan already. :(

Jeremy coming back to life ruined it for me. If they wanted to bring someone back, they had the perfect opportunity with Stefan reviving Lexie, or they could have figured out a way to bring back Alaric (if the actor changed his mind about the show and wanted to return).

As much as I love Katherine and Caroline, the Jeremy thing completely turned me off to the show. Would love to see those two characters and Matt merge over to The Originals once TVD ends.

i agree that the first and second season were the best and stephan got screwed i liked season 4 but i agree that the flashback of elena meeting damon just didnt make since and i also hope stephen finds someone he can be happy with i just hope he loves them like he did elena and i to dont think she deserves stephen at all

The Originals was the worst episode I’ve seen in a long time. I watched it with my friends and as soon as it was revealed that Hayley was pregnant, we instantly hated it and decided we wouldn’t watch it. We all knew she just trampled all over her logic. That wasn’t the only reason though. The acting was bad for the most part, the story was weird (honestly why couldn’t Hayley take a pregnancy test like normal? Jane Ann didn’t have to die), Klaus’s character build up was destroyed and the plot made him seem like a five year old. He wants NOLA just because Marcel has it? That’s like a five year old who is angry that somebody is playing with the toy he wants. I also hated the fact that Klaus has to be redeemed. Nobody wants Klaus to be “good”. I don’t care if that means he can’t be with Caroline. I’d rather see him evil than become a shadow of himself like Damon has. And it seemed to me that she was applying the common misconception that a baby fixes everything to Klaus. Aside from the fact that he shouldn’t even be able to make a baby, he’s nowhere near ready to have a kid. He would be a horrible father and that kid would grow up in a toxic environment. His problems would only be exacerbated with a child. They wouldn’t go away and I don’t think he would become a man and accept responsibility. That’s not in his character. Even then you’re never supposed to start off a show with a baby twist. That was the worst twist I’ve ever seen on TVD. (Yes the Originals, although it is it’s own series, is technically an episode of TVD) She really messed up on this one.

the baby plot is the worst thing she ever came up with. i also can’t stand hayley, I am not sure if it is the character or the acting, sorry but phoebe tonkin is by far the worst actress on TO. she should take acting class or the birth scene will be really embarressing to watch. still don’t get why julie gave her the lead role, guess looks are more important than talent.

I’d like to see you all write a show. I mean not every episode can satisfy everyone. Really everyone still freaking out over the baby, I mean like the baby is the strangest thing about the show? People saying that could never happen or it goes against all her ideology. How about the fact that it is a show about Vampires, none of it could ever happen. And since she is making up her ideology she can do whatever she wants with it. Stelena fans, suck it up and move on. The series is and has always been about her love for 2 and I repeat 2 brothers. I am sure your time will roll back around someday. I knew when I started watching the show I was going to watch a love triangle show, it was in the synopsis of the show, so people should really get over that. Yes, it’ll be nice if it takes a back seat for a moment but I am sure it won’t be for that long. She isn’t trying to make Klaus completely good IMO, I think she is trying to make him have a touch of humanity so people can relate and so he can carry a series and have people watching and rooting for him.

It’s called fan fiction honey! I swear this fandom can write better storylines and better character development than the so-called “writers” of this show. And TVD has been NOTHING, but fan service since season three. If thats what’s this show has been doing, this is what to be expected (except for the Bonnie fandom. We get jack squat!). I also hate the baby storyline and I am not (no where even close) to being a Klaroline fan. I just think its poor writing to redeem a character that doesn’t need to be. Klaus was a villain. Why does a villain need redemption? & the love triangle has been so overdone! 90% of the fandom is sick of it! And I don’t ship SE OR DE. I think Elena was the worst thing that ever happen to the brothers. I really wish all of the actors good luck, because myself and I’m pretty sure half the fandom are done with Julie Plec and her childish behavior!

I’m sad they killed Bonnie and brought Jeremy back. I mean I’m excited to see Elena happy, because we don’t see that a lot, but when she finds out Bonnie sacrificed herself, she’ll be devastated and so will Caroline. Bonnie was a great character and she was the only witch, she was very important. Now they have one more ghost and I think Jeremy’s storyline is a bit weak.
About Katherine taking the cure, I think the fun thing about her was that she’s a bitch, and she is powerful, now everyone can beat her up, so I think she’s gonna lose her essence, and another cool thing, was her strugle between her humanity and her evil side. But I’m interested to see what they do with her character, and I really just hope she doesn’t become a new elena, which i don’t believe will happen.
I’m sad that Klaus is leaving The Vampire Diaries and now with a baby coming, I think it’s the end of Klaroline but I really hope that even in a couple of years they just run together and he can show her ”life as she only dreamed it” …. with the baby xD
But I’m a big fan of tvd and i’m really glad the sire bond story is over, I can’t wait to see Damon finally being a happy, beause he really changed and deserves it. I’m curious to see the doppelganger roots and I hope they find Stefan quickly!